Membrane permeability is fundamental to all cell biology and subcellular biology. The cell exists as a closed unit. Import and export depend upon a number of sophisticated mechanisms, such as active transport, endocytosis, exocytosis, and passive diffusion. These systems are critical for the normal housekeeping physiological functions. However, access to the cell is also taken advantage of by toxic microbes (such as cholera or ptomaine) and when designing drugs. Ernest Overton, one of the pioneers in lipid membrane research, put forward the first comprehensive theory of lipid membrane structure. His most quoted paper on the osmotic properties of cells laid the foundation for the modern concepts of membrane function, most notably important in anesthesia. This book is designed to celebrate the centennial anniversary (in the first chapter) of Overton's work. Subsequent chapters present readers with up-to-date concepts of membrane structure and function and the challenge they pose for new explorations. - Provides an historical perspective of Overton's contributions to the theory of narcosis - Presents an overview of each permeability mechanism, including active transport, endocytosis, exocytosis, and passive diffusion

This e-book will review special features of the cerebral circulation and how they contribute to the physiology of the brain. It describes structural and functional properties of the cerebral circulation that are unique to the brain, an organ with high metabolic demands and the need for tight water and ion homeostasis. Autoregulation is pronounced in the brain, with myogenic, metabolic and neurogenic mechanisms contributing to maintain relatively constant blood flow during both increases and decreases in pressure. In addition, unlike peripheral organs where the majority of vascular resistance resides in small arteries and arterioles, large extracranial and intracranial arteries contribute significantly to vascular resistance in the brain. The prominent role of large arteries in cerebrovascular resistance helps maintain blood flow and protect downstream vessels during changes in perfusion pressure. The cerebral endothelium is also unique in that its barrier properties are in some way more like epithelium than endothelium in the periphery. The cerebral endothelium, known as the blood-brain barrier, has specialized tight junctions that do not allow ions to pass freely and has very low hydraulic conductivity and transcellular transport. This special configuration modifies Starling's forces in the brain microcirculation such that ions retained in the vascular lumen oppose water movement due to hydrostatic pressure. Tight water regulation is necessary in the brain because it has limited capacity for expansion within the skull. Increased intracranial pressure due to vasogenic edema can cause severe neurologic complications and death.

Smart Composite Coatings and Membranes: Transport, Structural, Environmental and Energy Applications provides the latest information on the increase in demand for new smart materials for a wide array of different technological applications. The book comprehensively reviews the latest developments in smart composite materials used as membranes, barriers, and coatings, with a special focus on corrosion protection, transportation, structure, and the wide range of applications. Part one examines the properties, processing, and manufacture of smart composite materials, along with techniques for modeling the behavior of these materials, while other sections review the use of smart composite coatings in aerospace, marine, and metal structural applications, examine the protective properties and applications of smart composite coatings, and introduce specific low environmental impact and energy efficient applications, such as energy generation and storage, water management, and stone conservation. - Explores the use of smart composite materials for coatings, barriers and membranes - Comprehensively reviews the latest developments in smart composite materials, with a special focus on corrosion protection, transportation, structure, and the wide range of applications - Examines the properties, processing, manufacture and behavior modeling of smart composite materials - Focuses on applications that have an impact on more effective energy savings and efficiency, green-house emissions, and environmental protection

Granta's spring issue, guest-edited by award-winning writer Rana Dasgupta, explores membranes of the tissue, self, collective, nation, species and cosmos. It features new poetry by Andrew McMillan, Tishani Doshi and Ida Brjel, a new translation of Vladimir Mayakovsky by Ilya Kaminsky and Katie Farris, as well as photography from Anita Khemka, Arturo Soto and Mnica de la Torre. Granta 151: Membranes showcases cutting-edge fiction from Lydia Davis, Fatin Abbas, Steven Heighton, J. Robert Lennon, Mahreen Sohail and Chloe Wilson, plus a host of thought-provoking essays: - Emanuele Coccia on birth, metamorphosis and the very strange miracle of life - Mark Doty on gentrification and homelessness in New York City - Anouchka Grose on infidelity and the idea of the unwanted third - Ruchir Joshi on all those kids his son once was - Kapka Kassabova on Lake Ohrid - Anita Roy on the great crested newt - Esther Woolfson on the relationship between humans and animals Plus: Eyal Weizman in conversation with Rana Dasgupta, on contemporary architectural strategies for repelling and dividing people.

President Carter's 1980 declaration of a state of emergency at Love Canal, New York, recognized that residents' health had been affected by nearby chemical waste sites. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, enacted in 1976, ushered in a new era of waste management disposal designed to protect the public from harm. It required that modern waste containment systems use "engineered" barriers designed to isolate hazardous and toxic wastes and prevent them from seeping into the environment. These containment systems are now employed at thousands of waste sites around the United States, and their effectiveness must be continually monitored. Assessment of the Performance of Engineered Waste Containment Barriers assesses the performance of waste containment barriers to date. Existing data suggest that waste containment systems with liners and covers, when constructed and maintained in accordance with current regulations, are performing well thus far. However, they have not been in existence long enough to assess long-term (postclosure) performance, which may extend for hundreds of years. The book makes recommendations on how to improve future assessments and increase confidence in predictions of barrier system performance which will be of interest to policy makers, environmental interest groups, industrial waste producers, and industrial waste management industry.

The first volume of the Handbook deals with the amazing world of biomembranes and lipid bilayers. Part A describes all aspects related to the morphology of these membranes, beginning with the complex architecture of biomembranes, continues with a description of the bizarre morphology of lipid bilayers and concludes with technological applications of these membranes. The first two chapters deal with biomembranes, providing an introduction to the membranes of eucaryotes and a description of the evolution of membranes. The following chapters are concerned with different aspects of lipids including the physical properties of model membranes composed of lipid-protein mixtures, lateralphase separation of lipids and proteins and measurement of lipid-protein bilayer diffusion. Other chapters deal with the flexibility of fluid bilayers, the closure of bilayers into vesicles which attain a large variety of different shapes, and applications of lipid vesicles and liposomes. Part B covers membrane adhesion, membrane fusion and the interaction of biomembranes withpolymer networks such as the cytoskeleton. The first two chapters of this part discuss the generic interactions of membranes from the conceptual point of view. The following two chapters summarize the experimental work on two different bilayer systems. The next chapter deals with the process ofcontact formation, focal bounding and macroscopic contacts between cells. The cytoskeleton within eucaryotic cells consists of a network of relatively stiff filaments of which three different types of filaments have been identified. As explained in the next chapter much has been recently learned aboutthe interaction of these filaments with the cell membrane. The final two chapters deal with membrane fusion.